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MARK AUSTIN THOMAS: Airbus and Boeing. That used to be the actual order of revenue and reputation between the two airline manufacturers. No more. Now it’s France’s Airbus that’s struggling to play catch up. So the Farnborough Air show next week outside London is critical. Billions of dollars are at stake. Jason Paur has that story
JASON PAUR: In a change of fortune, the European airplane maker Airbus is trailing Boeing in new orders this year.
Just a few years ago, it seemed Airbus do no wrong.
Every summer it proudly announced a fat order book.
But aerospace analyst Scott Hamilton says this year it’s Boeing doing all the bragging, while Airbus looks to rebuild.
SCOTT HAMILTON: Essentially Airbus is going through what Boeing was going through a couple of years ago. It has a product line for which many serious questions have been raised, however legitimate they may be. It has management turmoil.
The new Airbus super jumbo jet continues to be delayed, and this spring one of the world’s largest buyers of airliners told the company it needs to redesign its midsize A350 model.
Hamilton says Airbus needs to unveil an important strategic direction next week if it hopes to end the bleeding anytime soon.